


Research partners

by Pfefferminztea



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Post canon, self harm mention, that shows up when I type in the character bar?, why is hogwarts a separate character?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 19:50:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6580078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pfefferminztea/pseuds/Pfefferminztea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cho gets stood for a blind date at the Leaky Cauldron, but finds a much better way to spend her evening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Research partners

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't judge me on that title and just suggest a better one if you have it. ;-) 
> 
> A tumblr friend of mine reblogged some cute art of Luna and Cho crushing on each other which immediately gave me headcanons (and a gross amount of feelings). 
> 
> I am shit with in-canon-fanfic, though, because I’m constantly worried I am overlooking some canon detail that I should be including. Plus, I wanted them to have more than a one-week-crush (as fun as those can be!). And between Luna being two years younger and Cho definitely dating other people during her fifth, sixth and seventh year, plus the war going down… this seemed to make more sense. 
> 
> Probably my most well-researched fanfic to date, by which I mean ‘I browsed through the Harry Potter Wiki and googled early 2000s hairstyles for this, you’re welcome!’ I also took some liberties with the canonical Hogwarts uniform, though, so I suppose, fashion-wise my writing choices even each other out.

“Sweetie, are you okay? Do you want another drink?”

Startled, Cho’s head snapped up and her distracted quill placed a fat drop of ink under her half-finished diary entry. Hannah Abbott leaned across the table, hair falling out of her colorful butterfly clips and into her concerned-looking eyes. She looked unfamiliar, somehow, though Cho couldn’t quite place that impression. She passed through the Leaky Cauldron several times a week when dropping by Diagon Alley after work, and frequently stopped to chat with Tom’s new assistant. There was definitely no reason for her to suddenly be thrown by the other woman’s looks.

“I’m fine. Just going to finish this actually, and then I’ll head home, so I think I’m good with drinks. Thanks.” Hannah straightened, and flashed her a sympathetic grin. “He’s a complete wanker for standing you up, you know that, right?” Was it even worth correcting her, now that this date was never going to happen? Cho hesitated slightly, but decided against it. With one gulp, she drained the last of her pumpkin juice and slid returned the empty glass along with Hannah’s smile. The Hufflepuff picked it up and quickly wiped off the ring of condensation it had left on the dark wood. Watching her walk away, Cho realized why the younger one’s looks had thrown her before.

_It’s the shirt._ All summer, even on the hottest days, Hannah had insisted on covering all but her wrists and hands and a small patch of skin almost stretching to her collarbones. While everyone else had been busy figuring out just how little clothing they could get away with, she’d worn billowy blouses and the occasional button down – leftovers from a Hogwarts uniform. The too-long, rolled-up sleeves and red-and-gold accents had made Cho wonder, until the day she’d witnessed a blushing Neville Longbottom pick up Hannah from her shift. Today, though, she was wearing a tight-fitting plum-colored top with spaghetti straps. The half-raised hand, carrying a tray of empty glasses, revealed a ladder of scars on the inside of her upper arms.

 “You’re dripping ink on your notes.” She immediately recognized the dreamy voice, but this time put down her quill before turning to face another former member of the DA. “Hello, Luna. I haven’t seen you in ages, how are you?”

The blonde seemed startled, but quickly recovered and leaned down to embrace Cho. “I didn’t recognize you with the shorter hair. But I do like that, it makes you look like a pixie.” Looking around for a chair to pull up, but not finding any, Luna gestured towards the bench Cho was sitting on. “May I?”

The brunette nodded and picked up her bag so as to make room for her friend. “Er, thanks, about the hair. I guess I just wanted something more practical. I work at St. Mungo’s now, and although they don’t bother with all the stuff muggle doctors do to prevent spreading disease… I just don’t want a haircut I always have to tie back.”

Luna nodded sympathetically. “Arthur was talking about this at dinner on Friday, how many muggle rules they’ve tried to pass since the end of the war because they just make so much more sense, and it would help people so to get used to the thought that Muggles aren’t _that_ different from us. Arthur Weasley, I mean. He’s a nice man. I see him sometimes when I visit Ginny and Harry, or Hermione and Ron. Do you still talk to them?”

Cho smiled, realizing that the younger woman seemed every bit as caught up in her own world as she’d been in school, but the addition of real, life friends to talk about suited her. She tried to catch Hannah’s eye while Luna was talking, and signaled for the Hufflepuff to come to their table.

“Um, no, not really. I was never that close with them, you know. I ran into Harry a while back when he was in St Mungo’s for some minor injury. Should we get something to drink?” she interrupted herself, realizing that Hannah had already materialized next to them, beaming at Luna and wrapping her in a hug.

“That would be nice.” Luna seemed to think about her order for a moment, so Cho turned back to their waitress, who offered her a wide grin. “So you’re having another drink after all? At least you didn’t waste an entire day on a failed date and your never-ending work, then.” Cho felt a faint blush rising to her face. Sure, she’d told Hannah what she was here for, but that had been when she’d actually thought her colleague’s friend was going to show up. Plus, she hadn’t seen Luna in years, and there was no need for this to be the first impression her housemate got of her after all this time. Oh well. “I guess so. I’ll just have another pumpkin juice.”

Hannah nodded, and the quill floating next to her – startlingly similar to Rita Skeeter’s infamous quick quotes quill, but in Cho’s experience much more benign – scribbled down something on a notepad. Luna finally tore her eyes away from a table in the corner which she’d been eyeing and faced Hannah. “Is that something to drink in those bubbling glass things over there?”

Several of the large, bottle-shaped objects were assembled around the table she’d been watching, each next to a witch or a wizard holding a hose with a mouth piece. Every now and then, they would suck on the latter, causing the liquid in the bottle to light up and bubble and smoke to rise around them. All in all, they reminded Cho a lot of her potions lessons, minus the unpleasant smells and even more unpleasant teacher.

Hannah followed her gaze and threw her head back, laughing. “No, those are water pipes. Bill Weasley talked Tom into buying some of them, apparently they’re all the rage with Muggles at the moment. He brought some with him from Egypt, but I guess he could have just gotten them in a Muggle shop in London if he knew where to look. You put some sort of flavored tobacco in them, and some coals on top, and somehow the smoke gets filtered through some water or I guess you can use a potion… but we don’t serve that here. Would you like to try one?”

Luna’s eyes had lit up during Hannah’s explanation, and she nodded, still mesmerized. “Yes, please! And also something to drink, some lemonade?” The Hufflepuff nodded and her quill made a note of Luna’s drink order. “The water pipe comes in different flavors. People seem to like apple and lemon, but we also have mint, grape, orange, strawberry, coconut and chocolate. Or you can mix two of the flavors.” Luna considered this for a moment, absent-mindedly biting her lip. “I’ll try chocolate mint.”  Their waitress seemed to hesitate for a moment, as though she was unsure of whether she should add something to that, but nodded and disappeared with their order.

Luna shifted in her seat and pushed the leather bag she’d taken from her shoulder under the table. Looking expectantly at Cho, she asked: “So you were here on a date? What happened?” Taken aback, Cho crossed her legs and busied herself smoothing out creases in her simple blue robes. Thank god she didn’t look particularly dressed up, otherwise, this would have been even more mortifying.

“Didn’t you used to be all shy and reserved?”, she asked, avoiding Luna’s gaze. “What happened to that?” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Luna tilting her head and playing with the long, silver necklace she was wearing. She’d obviously finished with the butter beer cork she used to wear during their school days, by now, her talisman was an irregularly shaped black object Cho couldn’t even begin to identify. “No, I wasn’t reserved. Just not very social all the time, maybe. I suppose I changed. I’m sorry, have I made you uncomfortable?”

Had she? Cho did feel uncomfortable, but it seemed hardly fair to blame Luna for it, when she knew she would be answering the same question without embarrassment at work tomorrow. Well, maybe not entirely without embarrassment – after all, her colleague might know why her friend suddenly decided not to be seen with Cho. In either case, there was no reason to avoid Luna’s question.

“No, it’s alright. I’m just a little embarrassed. I was supposed to meet the friend of a colleague because she – my colleague, I mean – thought we’d hit it off. But she… my date didn’t show up.”

“Oh.” In stark contrast to the bubbly talkativeness she’d exhibited just seconds before, Luna seemed suddenly at a loss for words. By some instinct, the origin of which she couldn’t quite explain, Cho’s stomach tightened in nervous anticipation. This coming out thing had never been really dramatic for her, but pauses like this still made her worry. It wasn’t like she expected her housemate to fly into a homophobic rage - dropping a reference to female dates or girlfriends into a conversation just felt like oversharing, in a way that talking about boyfriends somehow never had.

“I’m sorry, have I made _you_ uncomfortable now?” As soon as the words were out, she already wanted to hex her own mouth shut. Sure, she usually preferred to keep her private life – well, that – but she wasn’t about to apologize for her orientation, either. Luckily, Luna had recovered quickly, and shot her a reassuring smile. “No, no, don’t worry. I’m sorry. I just always got the impression that you were… you know. Straight.”  

Was it her imagination, or was that a slight blush spreading over Luna’s sunburnt face? Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. There was no denying that growing out of her awkward phase and switching some of her mismatched jewelry for more thoughtfully picked-out, but still eccentric pieces suited the younger one. A lot. But then, Luna had implied that she’d been thinking about Cho’s orientation before. Hadn’t she? Didn’t that mean she had had a reason to speculate whether Cho would be open to dating girls? Then again, maybe it had just been curiosity.

“So.” In a gesture leftover from her long-haired days, Cho reached up to pull back her hair into a ponytail – only to remember that there wasn’t much left to tie together, and smooth back a few strands of her pixie cut instead. “What brings you here? Or rather, what doesn’t? I haven’t seen you around much.” Luna seemed relieved at the change of subject, but before she could answer, Hannah returned with their order. After placing the tray with their drinks on the table, she set down a brightly colored water pipe next to Luna. A small tap of her wand caused a puff of smoke to erupt from the mouthpiece. “Here you go. Just pull and inhale, but be careful, you don’t want to swallow too much smoke. Enjoy!”

Curious, Cho watched Luna raise the metal tube to her lips. After a few failed attempts, each marked by coughing and an increasingly red face, Luna seemed to have figured out how to use the pipe. Tilting her head back, she blew a column of white smoke towards the ceiling and watched it swirl away. “Tasty. Do you want to try?” Cho shook her head.  

“Okay then. Um. You asked what I was doing? I guess you can’t say that I have a regular job these days… I mostly help my father out at the Quibbler, and sometimes go on research trips with the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures. Not too easy though, they really do stick to their name. Seem to be more interested in regulating the stuff they already know than in what could be out there, especially the head of the department.”

It was obvious from her expression that Luna wasn’t just frustrated, there was something almost personally offended in her inability to understand this attitude. Biting her lip to suppress a smile, Cho dipped her finger in the little puddle of condensation forming around her glass. “I think I may have met him a while ago, he was taking a tour of the hospital to visit former department members or something like that. A few of them are apparently permanent patients of ours. If that is him I’m thinking about. Kind of small, broad shoulders, arms completely covered in scars?”

In her excitement, Luna seemed to swallow a big lung full of smoke, and for a moment, the only answer she could muster was a vigorous nod. Eyes watering, but valiantly fighting off another coughing fit, she finally managed to speak again. “Yes. That is him. Sometimes I get the impression he likes to show off those scars, I don’t believe I have ever seen him wear long sleeves.”

Again, Cho was startled by the change in Luna’s demeanor – never in a million years would she have expected her to be this gossipy. Talkative, sure, on occasion, when you caught her on the right topic.  But even after they’d gotten to know each other a little through the DA, Luna had always struck her as somewhat of a loner. And in Ravenclaw, earning that distinction in spite of the competition was definitely an achievement. She wasn’t about to complain, though.

“Yes… I kind of got that impression, too. He also really liked to tell gory stories. Mostly with himself as the protagonist. I’m not sure if that’s what someone who had their leg ripped off by a manticore wants to hear. But I’m not sure that was the point, anyway – total Gryffindor, if you ask me.”

She’d never been a big believer in house rivalry, of course. And her tone definitely betrayed the lack of serious resentment behind those words, but it was nice to see Luna giggle at the jab and her eyes light up in a memory of past common room parties. “Anyway. So what brings you here now? Are you visiting someone in London?”

Exhaling another puff of smoke, Luna shook her head. “No, no. I finally managed to get on board with one of the research expeditions they’re sending out this summer, and I wanted to stock up on some supplies. Actually, I also had my eye out for a broom, but I think I’ll have to think about that some more. I’m not really an expert on that sort of thing, and I don’t want to get the wrong model.”

Now this, Cho felt like she could make a contribution on. “A broom? Are you getting into Quidditch?” Luna had never shown any interest in playing on the house team, but of course, she might have just disliked the competitive atmosphere of academic sports.

“Nooo,” the younger one hastily replied, though. “No way. I’m not going to take my hands off a broom handle while I’m in the air, and I suppose they haven’t found a way of playing that doesn’t call for that. I’m thinking of maybe making a small detour on that expedition, since we’re heading to the Black Forest anyway. There’s supposed to be a habitat of Erklings nearby, and I’ve never seen them in the wild, so I would love to see them. But, I suppose they’re not interesting enough for the Department as long as they’re not creating any troubles, so I’d have to go alone. And nobody knows exactly where their territory is, so I don’t want to go on foot and get caught in the middle of something. I could always disapparate, of course, but I’d like to be safe. And a broom could also help observing them from a shorter distance without being noticed, so. I think it’s time to invest in one. I just don’t know where to start.”

Somehow, the offer that leaped to Cho’s mind seemed too intimate, even though she knew she would make it without hesitation if this was – yes, who? Someone else. Someone who had been her friend for years? But Luna kind of had, even if they’d never been particularly close. Someone who would not take it the wrong way? But – what way would that be? There was really only one reason why saying this next sentence would be uncomfortable, and the knowledge settled heavily in Cho’s stomach. There was no denying she was attracted to Luna, and that made even the most innocuous offer sound like a cheesy excuse for more shared time in her own ears. _Well, so what._ “You know. I could maybe help you with that. I haven’t played Quidditch for anything but fun in years, but I still know a little bit about the different brooms and stuff.”

A vigorous nod was her answer, and although she chastised herself for even giving it a second thought, relief washed through Cho. _So she didn’t find it weird._

“That would be fantastic. Could you really do that? Maybe we could meet up and look at some models some evening this week? Or whenever is convenient for you, really. I just assumed that you’d be working during the day… but I don’t know about your schedule. And I could take you to dinner after – I mean – I want to say thank you somehow.”

Actually, maybe there was something in Luna that picked up on Cho’s own awkwardness. The redness on her face was back, and for a while, they both stared at their drinks without saying another word.

“I’m sorry if this sounds like I’m making assumptions because you just told me you were waiting for a woman… for your date…” Luna broke off again, fiddling with her necklace. “Not that I would want you to think… Oh dear, I’ve made this weird before I even said anything.” She finally raised her head and looked Cho in the face, grey eyes meeting brown ones. “To be honest, I had quite the crush on you in my second and third year. And now I feel like I’m acting exactly like I was then.”

The light from the setting sun was catching in her dark blonde hair, and that was probably responsible for a good part of the effect. Still, Cho couldn’t help but feel like something else lit up between them as she returned Luna’s sheepish grin. “Wait. Your third and fourth… that was my fourth and fifth year.” The year Cedric died. But the memory of his death, while still painful, had scarred over in the years since the war, and she had no interest in picking at it again. Now, of all times.

“Didn’t you have that house newspaper in fourth year? I mean your second? I feel like you did some interviews with the Quidditch teams back then, but maybe it was in your first year. I guess you started early, what with your role model and all.”

Luna had obviously decided she had enough of the water pipe, and fiddled with the hose until she found a way of putting it aside that wouldn’t result in a tripping hazard.

“No… that was very much in my second year.” By now, her face was flaming red. “In my defense, I didn’t think when I asked for an interview, you’d invite me into the changing rooms after training.”

Her words suddenly recalled the memory of an early-autumn evening, arguing with her teammates about a maneuver they’d just practiced over a messy pile of just-discarded quidditch robes.  And a very awkward Luna arriving on the scene, seeming very uncertain about where to direct her gaze.

“Well, that explains why you were so nervous and stuttered your way through that interview. I thought it was kind of strange, later, when I heard how you actually talk…” Hard to say which was funnier: remembering Luna’s mortified face back then, knowing what had actually been the cause, or seeing her take on almost the exact same expression now.

“Oh, come on,” the younger one tried to cut through Cho’s laughter. “It’s not that funny. I mean. It’s entirely understandable. It wasn’t easy, remembering all those questions about training schedules and strategies when all the time I kept thinking…. That was the first time I really wondered what it’d be like to kiss a girl.”

With some effort – after all, she didn’t want Luna to be seriously embarrassed or uncomfortable – Cho managed to stop laughing. Still gasping for breath, she weighed her next words, but decided not to overthink things for once.  

“You know. You probably found out by now, but just in case, if you still need a research partner… I’d be happy to help.”

Now it was Luna’s turn to laugh, and for a second, the dread in Cho’s stomach returned. Before she could apologize, however, the blonde leaned forward and placed her lips on Cho’s. Her movements felt slow, deliberate, and in the moments it took Cho to recover, she could see a pair of silvery eyes watching her with a mixture of curiosity and contentment. Feeling the knot of anxiety in her belly dissolve, the brunette grabbed Luna’s hand and squeezed it tightly, before leaning in to deepen their kiss.

She couldn’t say how long it had been, but when they finally broke apart, Hannah was standing over the forgotten water pipe, face split by an infectious grin.

“Well, look at that. Seems like you got your date after all.”


End file.
